Yeah my friend who’s in the military said that it was one of the most realistic portrayals of actual combat, and since I love war movies, that was enough for me. Aaron Eckhart and aliens were cool bonuses.

The way I see it, we don’t know why the planet was invaded: people on the news were the ones who said that they were there for water, but I’m not sure that’s the full answer. This was an alien combat film, and for my money, it’s one of the best ones that I’ve ever seen.

TC McCarthy made a comment about an email he got from a guy who confronted T-34’s in Mozambique, more than likely the mail was from an ex-Rhodesian or South African soldier who would have fought during the Mozambique civil war during the 1970’s.

There were a lot of wars going on in Africa during the 70’s which wouldn’t have gotten much publicity in the US. A good book of memoirs from that era would be in the book “An Unpopular War: From Afkak to Bosbefok – Voices of South African National Servicemen” by J.H Thompson

As for current military sci-fi, the Helforts War saga by australian writer Graham Sharp Paul has some of the most convincing ship and fleet space combat I’ve read recently.

What were the books Dave mentioned right at the end? I’ve listened to it five times, and still can’t quite make it out. It sounded like Mike Hall or Mike Call, Shadowhawks or Shadowfox, but google doesn’t pull anything.

The T-34 was a WW2 Russian battle tank. Not sure that anyone uses it anymore. Perhaps the person in question meant to say T-55 or T-62 which are still in use in many countries. Just my 2 cents. Great panel!